


Of Chaos and Madness

by Maria_and_Aguilars_Codex_1492



Series: The Dark Knight Trilogy [3]
Category: Batman (Movies - Nolan), Batman - All Media Types, The Dark Knight (2008), The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Heroes to Villains, Insanity, Multi, Origin Story, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-19
Updated: 2018-02-19
Packaged: 2019-03-21 07:50:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13736424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maria_and_Aguilars_Codex_1492/pseuds/Maria_and_Aguilars_Codex_1492
Summary: "Nothing. No matches on prints, DNA, dental. Clothing is custom, no labels. Nothing in their pockets but knives and lint. No names. No other aliases given."There had once been names and prints. There had once been an identity beyond chaos and madness. She was almost surprised that Gordon didn't recognize her beyond the paint, but perhaps that was a testament to how low someone could become.//Jack and Jeanine Napier had spent their entire lives trying to become something. Only when they had been the heroes all it had taken was one bad day to show them the truth of how the world was.





	Of Chaos and Madness

_Jeanine Kane had been born in the Edward District Hospital in Midtown._

Her mother had come from an English family, an aristocrat that had left behind her family name in order to live in Gotham. The  _worst_ mistake in her mother's life. At least that was what she had always said when the bills stacked too high or the landlord had gotten too rough. Her father had been a more kinder man, raised in the Narrows, he had said that his greatest mistake was staying with her mother though the outcome had given him  _something._

Both of her parents had tried to keep their heads above the waters. To act as any well-off citizen living in Midtown would only nothing good ever lasted and that saying had proved to be true. 

When she was only eleven they had been removed from the apartment they had in the center of Midtown to a run down small home in the Narrows, right at the edge of the Gotham River. Mother had told her to treat it as if it was her very own island before they could get back onto their feet again, but father had been less optimistic. 

The Narrows wouldn't let the weak survive. She had to learn that quick though as much as she told herself to do so when the danger finally comes it hits  _hard_. 

It had been the little things at first: no meals for two days, no electricity or city water for the month, scrapping up her knees and palms from pulling herself under places. Then the bills began to cover the small wooden table and then they began to stack over each other. Overlapping as the money grew thinner and thinner. Running through her mother's hands like water until finally she had found her mother burning them on the steps behind their little home. Father was gone more and more after that, pulling on his workers clothing, messing with her curls on his way out, before stopping sternly at the door. He would always look back at her with dark circles under his eyes and he would give her a small smile before leaving. 

He did it for two years before he never came back one night.

At fourteen, Jeanine had grown into a more tougher girl than she had once been. The scars and dried blood and bruises proved that life was only going to get harder as she grew into her body. The summer months were miserable with the heat waves and lack of water. Mother would escape off to her own work where there was air conditioning despite its filthy conditions. Leaving her alone to defend the home from anyone prowling around when she wasn't trying to find work of her own to do.

The fall would begin to come, forcing her to go to the school on the northern east side of downtown Gotham. Downtown was the larger than Midtown and Uptown. Midtown is where all of the businesses are located and Uptown held more important places of business like Wayne Tower; both being the homes of those better off in Gotham. Though Downtown held a certain charm, being home to Gotham's World Financial Center, Statue of Justice, Wall Street, William Street, and the Gotham City Centers. It's array of large buildings and borderings to the Atlantic Ocean had been the only upside that Jeanine saw, but perhaps that was why she enjoyed school when it took her from the Narrows. 

Although  _enjoyed_ was not the best word to use for school. There were subjects that she excelled in like Chemistry and History, but there was no scholarship coming her way and since the school was shared by those living in Downtown and the Narrows there was a rivalry built into the school. 

She had brushed it off for the better of two years until she had met Jack Napier. Or rather she had  _come across_ Jack Napier when she had been trying to leave the school to catch her bus. He had decided to pick a fight that happened to be in her way. The poor kid that had pushed Jack into the lockers hadn't expected for him to pull out a switchblade and when the kid had tried to run she had done the unceremonial thing to do in the situation. Punch him. His nose had broken beneath her knuckles, smearing warm blood onto her hand before she could pull away. 

Jeanine would have regretted doing it too if it hadn't have lead her to becoming friends with Jack.

Jack Napier lived in the Downtown area with his father and little brother Robin. A much taller boy for his age, with curly hair almost identical to her own, although his had a much more richer brown than her own darker color, and his eyes were  _piercing._ If she hadn't been as intrigued as she was than she would have avoided his gaze entirely, but Jack had become determined to know why she had done what she did. Because being pissed at the guy for making her miss her bus wasn't a good enough reason. 

 

"I think I might like you  _kid._ "

"My name is Jeanine. Not  _kid_. Your not even older than me."

"Just follow me then  _Jeanine._ "

 

Jack had walked her home that day, or rather he walked her to the edge of the river that separates the two of them. They sat there for a while. Basking in the silence before attempting to get to know one another, but it didn't seem to matter as they both silently agreed on meeting again. 

As the years went by they had gotten closer, helped each other through the more awkward stages of life, until they both found themselves in bed together on the night of graduation. If Jeanine had known that he had planned on asking her to marry him than she would have asked him once the principal had given her the diploma in front of everyone who thought they would go nowhere, but being asked in his bed had been good too. The only downside was that they both knew what they would have to do in order to become something in this city even if they had to go down separate paths for a time. 

Jeanine had gone to James Gordon for recommendation. He had once known her father, for better terms rather than worse, and she needed some kind of connection to go where she wanted to as getting into the Police Academy had been the  _easy_ part. Rising through her classes, pushing herself over her limit in training, in order to come out on top had been the short term goal. Even when it almost took her to the hospital and when that day finally came it was worth it. The day came that she had been given her Gotham City S.W.A.T uniform. It was an accomplishment, one that left her smiling as Gordon congratulated her, but beneath it all she knew that it wasn't over. She didn't plan on staying in Gotham, as Jack had gone into the military the day after their small courthouse marriage, and she planned on joining him. 

They would be better than this city. They would show Gotham that they could be  _heroes._

**Author's Note:**

> I originally wrote this back in 2013 and I had created the Queen of Hearts/Joker Jr. sometime around 2012 after the Dark Knight Rises had come out. My writing wasn't as good back then as I had no history in writing fanfiction before, but I've finally decided to revise it after having a Dark Knight Trilogy marathon with my friends. Unfortunately I can't go back to simply correct my errors as I have lost my fanfiction.net account and I had never been able to publish it so it would still be in my drafts.
> 
> I'll try to make updates on this consistent as I want this to be as how I originally planned it to be: being a mixture of a prequel and the Dark Knight story, followed by the Dark Knight Rises being revised with the Joker and other Batman villains in it. If things go well then I hope to do "The Dark Knight Returns" showing what happened after the Dark Knight Rises. 
> 
> This is in the canon divergence tag for a reason. Rachel Dawes will have a different fate, Barbara Gordon will have a different fate in contrast to her comic book character, and there is more heroes becoming villains than there was in the original DK. Coleman Reese and Thomas Schiff also take up comic book roles based on theories around their characters in the Dark Knight as both had theories made about them being Batman villains silently placed in by Nolan.
> 
> All of these works are in memory of Heath Ledger and Conway Wickliffe. Both put their heart and soul into the film, and without them none of us would have the masterpiece that they helped make.


End file.
